Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide, 16th edition

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For courses in Research Writing.

Celebrating 50 years of delivering current, detailed guidance on academic research and writing

The definitive research paper guide, Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide combines a traditional but practical approach to the research process with the latest information on electronic research and presentation. Written by the original author’s son, this text remains the foremost handbook for current, detailed guidance about academic research, writing, and documentation.

Over the last two decades, the world of academic research has changed dramatically. Most research is now done online, which has not only put an almost unimaginable wealth of new sources at our fingertips, but has also brought challenges in evaluating source credibility and usefulness. Marking the 50th anniversary of Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide, the 16th Edition confronts these new challenges and offers clear, detailed guidance to assist student researchers as they struggle to keep pace with online research, electronic publishing, and new documentation formats.

• Help with Digital Research: Every chapter reflects the current context for academic writing, including the impact of technology on searching for appropriate topics, finding and evaluating source material, gathering notes and drafting the paper, avoiding plagiarism and embracing academic integrity, and, of course, documenting sources. Students are directed step-by-step with clear, detailed guidance on blending electronic citations into their writing.
• Current Documentation Guidelines: To enable students to document sources correctly, this edition includes updated guidelines for the most important documentation formats, including:
• Up-to-date coverage of MLA documentation style
• Revised APA documentation coverage
• Current standards for CMS style
• “Research Tips” in Chapters 1 through 10 offer instruction and examples for citing sources appropriately and ethically, and avoiding plagiarism. Beginning with the section “Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism,” in Chapter 1, the text clearly explains what plagiarism is and presents strategies students can use to avoid unintentional violations.
• Guidelines for Evaluating Online Sources assist student researchers in deciding if and when to use familiar search engines such as Google or Yahoo!, and also offers detailed advice on how to find respected scholarly sources—and how to determine whether a source is credible.
• A checklist, “Evaluating Online Sources,” helps students gauge the quality of online articles.
• Student writing examples provide models for student writers of how other students have researched and drafted papers on a wide range of topics. Seven annotated sample papers, more than are in any other text of this kind, demonstrate format, documentation, and the different academic styles.
• Sample abstracts in MLA and APA style are also displayed.
• Additional sample research papers are available in the Instructor’s Manual, Model Research Papers from across the Curriculum, and on MyWritingLab.
• “Finding Reference Works for Your General Topic” in the Appendix provides a user-friendly list of sources for launching your research project. Arranged into ten general categories, the Appendix allows a researcher to have quick access to relevant library books, library databases, and Internet sites.
• Accessible, Navigable Design: As in previous editions, the text is printed in full color, making information and features easier to find and more pleasing to read, and bringing strong, visual elements to the instruction.
• The spiral-bound version also includes tab dividers to make information easier to find. The tabs include additional web sites, as well as tables of contents for the following sections.
  

• NEW! “Goals and Outcomes” at the beginning of each chapter provide students with a list of learning objectives. These serve as a ready guide for finding documentation information quickly and recalling the key goals of the chapter.
• NEW! New explanations of research techniques in Chapter 4 show students how to apply cutting-edge tools and strategies in their research, including keyword searches with expanded Boolean operators and social networking sites.
• NEW! Three new student papers, plus a new annotated bibliography, provide fresh models of student research work.
• UPDATED! Updated coverage of MLA and APA documentation style brings students up to speed with the latest revisions, including how to handle electronic source documentation.

Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide, 16th Edition is also available via Revel™, an interactive learning environment that enables students to read, practice, and study in one continuous experience. Learn more.

• New “Goals and Outcomes” at the beginning of each chapter provide students with a list of learning objectives that serve as a ready guide for finding documentation information quickly and that provide students with the key goals of the chapter.
• New explanations of research techniques in Chapter 4 show students how to apply cutting-edge tools and strategies in their research, including keyword searches with expanded Boolean operators and social networking sites.
• Three new student papers, plus a new annotated bibliography, provide fresh models of student research work.

• Updated coverage of MLA and APA documentation style brings students up to speed with the latest revisions, including how to handle electronic source documentation.